About Park Street Orienteering

Events are held all over Melbourne and in parts of regional Victoria, all year round.  Come to as many events as you wish and “pay as you go” – no pre-registration required, and no need to sign up to a whole series or night.  Entry fee for adults $5 per event, Juniors (under 21) $3 per event.  You can choose whether to run or walk, individually or in a group.

Click here to read Participant Guidelines

These explain what to expect at a Park Street event, including GPS based virtual controls, contactless/online payment, and online event entry from your phone using OTrack.

Please bring a Smartphone to enter the event, and to use MapRun.  No Smartphone? No worries – we’ll get you up and running (or walking) without one. Just ask for assistance at Registration. Find out more about MapRun

When to arrive: at Melbourne events, there is a 30 minute start window. For Geelong and Mornington Peninsula events, everyone starts at the same time. Refer to the participant guidelines for specific times.

What to bring

At the event: Each participant receives a paper map with 20, 23, or 25 pre-marked control points. Controls are positioned on features such as light poles, fences, or trees.   You must return to the Finish within a set time, or after locating a designated number of controls. It’s up to you to decide which controls to go to.

When you arrive:  Look for ORIENTEERING parking signs, or park as directed.  Then head to the Registration table to enter the event and pay your entry fee.  We’ll help you choose a course, give you a preview of the map, and some simple instructions. When ready, head to the start, where the course setter will hand you a map.  On the “Go” signal, turn over your map and begin your course.

Courses: You may choose whether to run or walk. If you select a Running course, you can run, jog or walk. But if you select a Power Walking course, you MUST walk at all times.

After starting, use the map to navigate to the controls in any order. You can record your visit to the controls in either of two ways:

  • MapRun – use a smartphone app based on GPS locations.  With MapRun, your phone or bluetooth-enabled watch will “beep” at each control point. It will record your time, distance and points.  When you finish, upload your result to the Leaderboard, where you can compare how you went with others on the same course.  Find out more about MapRun

Tips: if using a phone, download MapRun from your app store.  If using a smartwatch, download MapRun to your phone, and MapRunG from the Garmin IQ store or similar.  We can provide instructions and assistance at the event. For ease of setup, downloads should be done at home rather than at an event.

  • Control cards – use a traditional card and pen to record the controls you visited. Record your start and finish time (HH:MM:SS) on the card before handing it in at the Finish.

The two course formats used are called SCATTER and SCORE.

SCATTER:

  • Used for Summer Running courses in Melbourne and Geelong
  • Locate a designated number of controls (eg 10 of 20) in any order. First to finish with the correct number of controls wins
  • Course lengths range from 3 kms to 10 kms
  • Choose any course you wish from the four options available

SCORE:

  • Used for Power Walking courses in Summer, all courses in the Surfside and Mornington Peninsula summer series, and for all courses in all Winter series
  • Controls have values ranging from 2 to 5 points. Collect as many points as you can before a set finish time
  • Finish times vary from 45-65 minutes, depending on the course selected
  • Penalty points are deducted for being late, so you need to wear a watch, and be familiar with the time allowed for your course.

Finish: you must return to the Finish, and report to the Registration table so that we know you are safely back. Courses close 75 minutes after the last Start time; if you haven’t returned by then we will call the contact phone number you provided at check in.  If you miss the cutoff time, your result will be recorded as Did Not Finish (DNF).

Results: if using MapRun, your result will appear as soon as you finish, on the MapRun leaderboard.  Official results and series standings will be published within 1-2 days. The winner on each course receives 100 points, second place receives 99 points, etc. Points are tallied each week to determine the overall placegetters at the end of each series.

Maps: we always give you a printed map, to show you where the controls are, where you can and can’t go, and details about the event. They are black and white, A4 sized, and at a scale of 1:10,000.  They are similar to, but more accurate than a Melway or Google map, and they show contours.  You do not need a compass.  Click here to see maps from the current series.

Groups:  Park Street orienteering is a great activity for schools, scouts, sporting teams or social clubs. We also welcome disability groups with carers. If you would like to bring a group, please contact us a week before the event so that we can ensure sufficient map numbers.

Practice:  You can download and print a map from our MapLink Library, and try orienteering in your own time, any time! You can also use MapRun with these maps.

Click here for practice maps of all sorts!

Master Map of Park Street Event Locations

This shows you the geographic boundaries of each of our maps.

Getting Started

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